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On Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris marked the White House’s very first Maternal Health Week, delivering remarks and a call to action on the urgent crisis the nation faces.
Harris used the occasion to highlight investments proposed in the Build Back Better Act, which would support safer pregnancies and childbirth while reducing complications in the first year after a child is born.
“This challenge is urgent, and it is important and it will take all of us, ” VP Harris said. “And to put it simply, here’s how I feel about this: in the United States of America, in the 21st century, being pregnant and giving birth should not carry such great risk,” she added. “Women in our nation are dying –– before, during and after childbirth.”
“So, let us all say unequivocally, maternal mortality and morbidity is a serious crisis, and one that endangers both public health and economic growth, which means everyone is impacted by it,” Harris continued.
“Because just think about it. Mothers are the backbone of our economy, and their children are the future of our economy.”
In April, the Biden-Harris administration signed an official White House Proclamation to establish the Black Maternal Health Week, as the US continues to top the list of maternal deaths of any developed country.
For Black and Native women and pregnant people, the maternal mortality rate is disproportionately higher than any other racial group –– “regardless of income level, regardless of education level,” Harris pointed out.
“And we know a primary reason why this is true: systemic inequities,” Harris said.
Harris touted $20 million commitments from more than 20 public and private companies that equal “$20 million in maternal health efforts domestically and more than $150 million globally” to aid in the administration’s mission.
The Department of Health and Human Services also released a report Tuesday estimating that 720,000 more people would gain Medicaid postpartum coverage if states act independently from the federal government. The report also provides guidance to states on how to provide Medicaid coverage for a full year postpartum.
The summit is part of President Biden’s Build Back Better Act and the administration’s push to expand Medicaid coverage and provide a greater safety net of social services. The bill is currently being negotiated in the Senate.
